The present Sliding Panel Anti-Friction Runner invention has been developed, applied and proven to permit large, heavy doors hung on a track and trolley system to be moved reciprocally with greatest ease. It is adaptable to various sizes of doors and has numerous separate uses. For example: In its principal function, it prevents sliding doors from rubbing the jamb, building and/or against other doors in by-pass functions. As a sliding door may hang from a track above, the invention serves as an adjustable stay roller guide. In the prior art, related stays are applied to the bottom of the door to ensure that the door bottom may not exceed a desired distance in extension of the building. Nonetheless, until the present there has been provided no means available for maintaining a desired clearance between the door and building, despite buckling or warping. In addition to the conventional bottom roller guide, the invention maintains a desired clearance between a sliding door and building. In by-pass door environments, a combination of runners maintains a desired clearance between doors which slide relative to each other. The invention is proven especially helpful with heavy wooden doors that have a tendency to move, by means of expanding and contracting, swelling, bowing, etc., wherein conditions such as temperatures and humidity, affect wood products designed for exterior use.
This heavy-duty, sliding panel door guard/bumper includes a rigid base plate which is suitable for mounting upon the sliding panel in a distortion-free connection, by means of plural anchors. The panel serves as a mount for plural journals which mount an axle thereon. The journals are elevated vertically from the base plate, adjacent one end thereof and the elevation of each journal is graduated rearwardly to form a sliding slope which corresponds at the distal end with the circumference of one or more aligned sliding panel bumper wheel, although the maximum elevation of the journals is less than the protruding circumference of the bumper wheel. The wheel has axle bearings therein such that a minimum of friction is presented to passing contact of one heavy duty panel which is slid relative to another. The door guard/bumper may be variously mounted upon a doorjamb, upon opposed doorjambs, or upon one of sliding panels which is opposite another. Plural guards may thus be mounted. Likewise, utility may be enhanced by mounting large and small-sized guards as will appear below.
______________________________________ DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART INVENTOR DATE PAT. NO. DESCRIPTION ______________________________________ Mattoon 1884 307,131 Stay Roller for Sliding Doors Wideman 1907 873,816 Stay Roller Klotz 1911 988,880 Roller for Sliding Doors Heise 1915 1,123,287 Stay Roller for Sliding Doors Riley 1950 2,527,032 Sash Holder Trammel, Sr., et al. 1954 2,676,367 Window Unit Migneault et al. 1962 3,030,654 Pressure Applying Device Stevenson 1987 4,672,712 Wind Restraining Stay Roller Peterson et al. 1988 4,723,374 Cantilevered Sliding Gate Gibbs et al. 1992 5,136,813 Cantilever-Type Sliding Gate ______________________________________
The invention is especially useful in holding heavy sliding doors, in normal hanging disposition, relative to the side of a barn. It is also adapted to sliding opposed doors back and forth, viz: when elemental forces create a "sail" effect, encountered in heavy winds. Nonetheless, the invention mount is primarily adapted to be fixed to the jamb or sill of the barn construction and its contact with the moving door is such as to alleviate friction between the sliding door and its support such as structural elements of the building itself.